/' ,/ /' / / / / /" ---r--L I I ' , :I::;l \ .,1 I ;, . . ./ . -I "I J.; - " .f / 1 . ' ..' II .' , .... . I / / I "Oh, and your ex stopped by. " . . coast, Sam Candler, who has spent much of his life there, was telling me one day about having discovered a timber rattler under the driver's seat of his Jeep. The Jeep was in motion when he made the discovery and he was the driver. The rat- tlesnakes of Cumberland Island are thicker than fire hoses and so numerous they're like earthworms after rain. So r m told. I told Sam that I had yet to see my first rattler in the wild. "You what?" he said, pulling his beard in disbelief ''You can't be serious." " r . " m serIOUS. ' w 11 " h . d " 1 ' , " W e, e saI, et s go. e went outside and got into his Jeep. I looked it over first. Sam knows the name and ad- dress of every rattlesnake in the northern five thousand acres of the island. He tells stories unflattering to their intelligence: "If a line of people walks past a rattle- snake, it aims at the first person, strikes at the second, and hits the third." He stopped near a stand of palmettos, walked confidendy to the edge of it, and peered in. Nobody home. Near an immense live oak, he showed confidence again. No snake. We drove around for a couple of hours, frequendy stopping at rattlesnake loci familiar to him for a lifetime. His confidence ebbed and was replaced by amazement. The Rocky Mountain geologist David Love, who generously made field trips with me and camped with me and taught me the structure and stratigraphy ofWy- oming, was no less surprised than Sam Candler. David had grown up in the geo- graphical center of the state on a ranch from which no other buildings were visi- ble to the distant horizons. A man named Bill Grace, wanted for murder, had come through the ranch one evening when David and his brother were young boys. Their parents knew who Grace was, and did not think ill of him for killing a man who had it coming to him. The boys knew that Grace was wanted for murder. Their mother asked him to stay for dinner. The boys happened to have come upon and killed a five-foot rattlesnake earlier in the day. Their mother served it creamed on toast. The boys were cautioned sternly by their parents not to use the word "rattle- snakè' at any point during the meal. They were to refer to it as chicken, since a possibility existed that Bill Grace might not be an eater of adequate sophistication to enjoy the truth. The excitement was too much for the boys. Despite the parental injunction, gradually their conversation at the table fished its way toward the snake. Casually-while the meal was going down-the boys raised the subject of poisonous vipers, gave their es- timates of the contents of local dens, told sto- ries of snake encounters, and so forth. Finally, one of them remarked on how very good rat- tlers were to eat. Bill Grace said, "By God, if anybody ever gave me rattlesnake meat I'd kill them." The boys went into a state of catatonic paralysis. In the pure silence, their mother said, "More chicken, Bill?" "Don't mind if I do," said Bill Grace. My life list of exotic food is not some- . . / g. . "Everything you ever wanted to know about food." -Anna Lappé, San Francisco Chronicle .. _1"'1Ïch ael pollan I ens ab1e . ", lutely In d sp T -fl'lt ".AbS O . Â _ __ fIIII- a ni c "? ....-- e d 01'9 . yttIY .. ".. , ..ceru'. .., 1 ......at is ......... - t,allS fats "" · . ytttIt". ........ wJt31 ". ........' . to ..... .....' . .... .--' .......... . ... .... .,.c:k of t ..-..' . I 1 IN...... ...... ".,-P __Id- .... utrltlOUS ,pøfI.,-T I ttte'" ,.-- ..,0'. II _ tiØf' . .d \.1 ,.,. .,I C .....P ...... ..---- ........ --' 'or9 a ..,' . IS ....... .-d ,tJt. ....... or or dessert? .......,. YftII'. --: " re--- .,rdI food of. Ie v..... 1 n. "",... If . ... ,..,..,. Y"'" c"o . , tad"' ' .,........... .,.tt8"'" II. Now In t tlII*"'"' . øo* lIS ...-s II b k l or ....ho le gr al _.....-_ .....-t:, paper ae . ,.,. - ...- ..-- led 'VIa ,. þOtt gAe"'1<o .,.--"' "'p' or ,..-.ent:f I WI""" . .,... ......... ::-;:;.. 1\1 ESf LE " .... nIIAßIOI\I "Absolutely indispensable:' - Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma www.fsgbooks.com FARRAR STRAUS t><::::J> G I R 0 U x North Point Press LA CORNUE ARTISAN CRAFfSMEN OF EXCEPI'IONALSTOVFS SINCE 1908. Available through " . . . ' The McKernon Group, Inc. ED .. Brandon, Vermont 1 (888) 484-4200 -l - -,- www.rnckernongroup.com l - . '.. I' - your chronic health condition doesn't have to be chronic. Our 19-day immersion program will transform your health-and your life. Find out more. kripalu.org/healthforlife 800-741-4898 pea rl pudd les .com 800.5 61 .55 0 9 baroque freshwater pearls '4KGF \. Undiscovered Italy Free Catalog: 800-280-2811 -, Parker Villas · I Villa t VI v I r:- L www.parkervillas.com THE NEW YORKER, SEPTEMBER 3 & 10,2007 89